Google and Privacy

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Introduction

Your full name, address, phone number, e-mail, credit card information, and your date of birth: what do all these things have in common? They are all items of personal information that are being asked from you and from other consumers during online transactions, including account creations. These items are also being collected from you and are being used more and more in this constant technologically advancing society with or without your permission and/or your prior knowledge. The main culprits of this information retrieval system are social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even Google. This process has raised a grave concern for all of us that will be answered within this essay.

How has the creation of Google impacted the privacy of its consumers? Google has been transformed from being the simple search engine that it was when it was created to becoming the extremely complex kind of social networking site that it has become today. These dramatic changes and improvements that affect the way that Google is being operated has brought about a decrease of privacy that, we, as consumers, have every right to. Before Google and these other social networking sites came around, consumers of some of the other online products had complete privacy of all their personal information. Now, with the creation of these sites, that privacy has diminished greatly, leaving us with next to no privacy, meaning that networking sites that people have accounts with, and any other companies who the information has been shared with or have access to this information, can find out just about anything about you. With our privacy now being greatly decreased, networking sites can “steal” any information that we give...

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...r. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. .

Shankland, Stephen. "Google Pays Coders to Improve Open-source Security." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. .

United States of America. Department of Homeland Security. Public Affairs. Use of Google Analytics. By Kathleen McShea. Ed. Mary Ellen Callahan. N.p.: Department of Homeland Security, 2011. Dhs.gov. 9 June 2011. Web. 14 Jan. 2013. .

Werlin, Ernest 'Doc' "Whether for Good or Ill, Google Has Clearly Changed the World." HeraldTribune.com. The Herald Tribune, 20 Jan. 2010. Web. 14 Jan. 2013. .

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